welovebearwood: Local Heroes: Arthur Merriman

welovebearwood: Local Heroes: Arthur Merriman: Arthur Lewis Joseph Merriman On Saturday we visited the Smethwick At War exhibition at St Mary’s Church. It was fascinating, for inst...

Blogging Bout 'Bromwichham': On this Armistice Day I thought I would let you k...

Blogging Bout 'Bromwichham':
On this Armistice Day I thought I would let you k...: On this Armistice Day I thought I would let you know about my Grandad Arthur Lewis Merriman who served in the Auxiliary Fire Service in C...

On this Armistice Day I thought I would let you know about my Grandad Arthur Lewis Merriman who served in the Auxiliary Fire Service in Cape Hill during the Second World War.

I was reminded of his selfless service after having served in the Roman Catholic as a 17 year old in The Black Watch putting down the Irish rebellion, the Easter Rising of 1916, which probably saved him from the carnage of The Somme and the Western Front.

I happened upon the Remembrance Service at 10.30am at St Mary's Church in Bearwood yesterday. It was excellent and attended by the Mayor of Sandwell and a flag-bearing party from the Royal British Legion (one of them was a 'Green Beret' mate a Royal Marine who had obviously seen recent service by his age. The Last Post was sounded and brought a tear to my eye as it always does as I recall comrades lost in battle.

If anyone subscribes to Jo Billing's 'We Love Bearwood' blog and website there will be a piece on my Grandad Arthur Lewis Merriman who moved to Poplar Road in Bearwood in 1935 from their home in the back-to-back courts of Winson Green where he worked as a furnaceman at Guest Keen and Nettlefold for over 30 years from the 1930's until he retired in 1964.

 Arthur was an Auxiliary Fireman at M&B's Cape Hill Brewery during the second shout and was a bit of a hero in 1940 when he and his men went round putting out firebombs and incendiaries dropped on Winson Green, Ladywood, Bearwood and Smethwick during the Birmingham Blitz with his bucket of water and his stirrup pump, which we had, along with his shiny black ARP tin hat until about 25 years ago in our outhouse where we lived in Willow Avenue, Bearwood near my Mom's family in nearby Poplar Road on Bearwood's Poplar Estate.

My Mom's family the Merriman's lived in a back-to-back court in Dugdale Street, Winson Green. Grandad Merriman as we called him used to drink in The Park Tavern on the corner of Dugdale Street and Dudley Road and also the old 'Cape of Good Hope' pub where he would drink his pints of Ansell's Mild and his packet of Woodbines and would place his bets on the 'gee-gees' with his bookmaker pal Freddie Harris. He also drank in and the pub known locally as 'The Engine' whose proper name was: 'The Locomotive' outside the main entrance to the Cape Hill Brewery where the old M&B War Memorial used to be at the bottom of Cape Hill. I have leant Jo a photo of Grandad Merriman in his AFS uniform for her piece on him. He died in 1971 and is buried in the Roman Catholic plot in Quinton Cemetery in Birmingham with his wife Alice Gwendoline Merriman (nee Langley) from Little Comberton near Pershore in Worcestershire.

Grandad hailed from the beautiful Glocestershire Cotswold village of Chipping Campden where his brother Mark Merriman's name appears on the Roman Catholic war memorial opposite 'The Volunteer' pub on the High Street.

As a young man when he worked as a farm labourer in Campden he would slake his thirst after a long day toiling in the fields in The Eight Bells a whitewashed thatched cottage pub near the entrance to the village just off the main road into Campden.

There have been Merriman's living in Chipping Campden at least since 1781 which we managed to verify from the 1851 census with Robert Merriman being born in Campden in 1781.

I would like to tell you about another war hero I knew in the 1970's: George William Hollis of Floyer Road, Small Heath who served under General 'Bill' Slim with his 'forgotten army' at Kohima in 1943. George Hollis was a Brummie serving under a Brummie general in Slim in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers REME in Burma in the Second World War, fighting the Japanese as they attempted to invade India and occupy and take the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the British Empire.

1500 British and Indian army solders resisted 15000 Japanese at the Hill town of Kohima as the Japanese attempted to invade India..The battle lasted for a month and the British and Indian defenders succeeded in repelling the Japanese advance and India remained intact as part of the empire. India was an important source of resource on the South - East Asian front where the troops were under General Slim were dubbed: 'The Forgotten Army',  India provided troops, ordinance and industrial manufactured goods such as vehicles, petrol, oil and fuel along with food supplies. 

The Indian railway system, built by the British was crucial in supplying the front and keeping India intact and  part of the British Empire. Singapore had fallen to the Japanese in 1941, a huge shock for the British and they were determined the same fate would not befall India......

After the victorious Battle of Kohima, George Hollis had some R and R in Bangkok in Siam, where he met and fell in love with young Eurasian girl Maria Seidel, who had a German father and Siamese mother.

George continued to see Maria in Bangkok when on leave and when the conflict was over was determined to marry her and take his young bride back to England where they would live as man and wife and start a family.

This they did, marrying in a Civil Ceremony in Bangkok and travelling by troop ship back to Tilbury. They set up home in Birmingham in the 1940's.

I recall Maria telling me of the awful racism that she suffered in forties Birmingham, with much tittle-tattle and gossip in the street.

Maria gave birth to Alan Hollis in 1954 and Alexandra Victoria Hollis followed on May 24th 1958. Alan was a bright boy and passed the 11 plus and went to Sheldon Heath Comprehensive School were he got 'A' Levels, being particularly talented at science and mathematics.

Alan got a job with British Gas in the fledgeling computer systems department in the early 1970's where he trained as a computer programmer and engineer.

Alexandra Victoria (Maria and George were staunch Royalists) went to St Benedict's School and like Alan was bright and passed her 11 plus attending George Dixon Grammar School for Girls in City Road, Edgbaston, quite a trek across the city involved 2 buses for a  shy, young 11 year old girl.

Vicky as she was called by the Hollises thrived at George Dixon and passed 10 'O' levels all at the top grade. She entered the 6th Form at George Dixon where she became my first girlfriend in 1974 when George Hollis celebrated his 50th birthday.

I recall his two brothers Alan and Raymond carrying him somewhat 'the worse for wear' in drink after his birthday party at his local chapter of the Royal and Ancient Order of Druids at their Lodge in Small Heath. 

George was an enthusiastic, keen and diligent member of The Druids, which like the Royal and Ancient Order of the Buffalo, the 'Buffs' was like a working class version of The Freemasons, where working men rather than professionals or local government and public officials like policemen and soldiers met to drink, share ideas and socialize in a semi-formal setting with regular dinners and meetings being held weekly and monthly throughout the year in rooms known as 'Lodges' with the recitation of formal ritual being a common feature of all three organisations along with a structured hierarchy for advancement within the order.

Maria and George had another child Sara-Louise in 1975 who was a lot younger than her siblings and was doted on by her parents.

I well recall, Alan and his wife and children applied to emigrate to the Republic of South Africa which was then still under the yoke of Apartheid. Alan was refused entry to South Africa because he was deemed to be of mixed race having an Asian mother and white father. 

This was a sign of the times in the world of !970's Britain, where casual racism was common among British men and women and in the 1964 General Election in nearby Smethwick   the Black Rights activist Malcolm 'X' had visited to see first-hand for himself British racism against Black and Ethnic minorities.

Alan continued to work for British Gas as a computer programmer and had a family comprising two blond, blue-eyed sons, who ironically would have passed for Afrikaaners in Apartheid South Africa.

Vicky continued to do well at George Dixon Grammar School and was made Deputy Head - Girl in her Upper Sixth year passing 4 'A' Levels and getting a place at the University of Birmingham to study law. I followed her as her first boyfriend to the University of Birmingham studying for a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accountancy.

While at the University of Birmingham Vicky applied to join MENSA as he had an IQ of 150 plus and was accepted as a member. She eventually obtained a 2:1 LL.B Degree in Law from the University of Birmingham and after qualifying as an ACA accountant with Deloitte in Birmingham set up her own small accountancy practice.

After 5 years together, once we graduated our interests changed as I pursued a career in rugby coaching and Vicky became interested in equestrianism, representing the University of Birmingham in the one-day equestrian event.

We stopped going out in 1979 after 5 years together.

As for George and Maria, after a lifetime together, bringing up 3 successful children in a mixed-race family in a very racist Birmingham at the time, a city not as diverse as it is now they had grandchildren whom they doted on a pursued and ordinary family life.

George Hollis passed away in 1992.

Maria may well still be alive as a feisty pensioner well into her 80's.

That was the Hollis families story, a story of war, turmoil love and family; of racism and hatred and friendship and good times....

A 'Birmingham story'..............

Birmingham licence for City TV

Birmingham licence for City TV

University of Birmingham Rugby Club memories from 1976. 

I am am now 54 and went up to the University from Birmingham Grammar School George Dixon GS in the Autumn of 1976 after that 'Golden Summer of 76.' after just missing out on a place to read P.P.E.and get an Oxford Rugby Blue, or so I thought with the confidence of youth at Worcester College Oxford-never happened! 

Having played for Greater Birmingham Schools at Rugby and trialed for The Midlands Schools at Under 19's, where I came across some 'real' players like Mike Perry from Wrekin College, who went on the play for Moseley RFC and England Under 23's; Murray Fisken (any relation to UoB's David Fisken?) from King Edward's School opposite the University Guild in Edgbaston who played for Edinburgh Academicals and Scotland and Huw Davies from King Edward's School Stourbridge, who played centre/fly-half for England in the pre-Carling era with Marcus Rose et al in the mid-1980's.

As an interesting aside local rock superstar Robert Plant, former front man of mega group Led Zeppelin is an 'Old Boy' (I am sure Robert would love that epithet.....!!!) of King Edward's Stourbridge and trained as a Chartered Accountant in Dudley-how the 'mighty are fallen'..eh? 

I had played for Dixonians RFC the rugby club of the former George Dixon Grammar School as a Colt earlier that year and was very fit. 

I made my debut for the University of Birmingham 1st XV in early October 1976 against local Black Country 'Thugby Club' Dudley Kings who now play at Level 3 in the arcane RFU English Clubs hierarchy 

UoB rugby was excellent in the mid 1970's as was sport generally at the University of Birmingham. Birmingham RFC's coach Keith Bonser (an England coach later in his coaching career!) and a Senior Lecturer in the PE Department, led the University 1st XV Squad as an innovative coach, ahead of his time in his techniques and tactical appreciation. 


We were well beaten by DK who had a great afternoon on the Bournbrook:'Hunting students', losing something like 25-6, not even scoring a try against a particularly strong pack. We ran the ball from anywhere, not a good idea on a sweltering hot early Autumn Saturday afternoon. 

I went onto play for two seasons for the University 1st XV until a serious knee injury early in January 1978 ironically at Wast Hills against a club I played against subsequently for Dixonians: Old Edwardians, a long-established and once upon a time first-class rugby club who played Moseley's 1st XV way back when.Old Edwardians was founded in the Victorian era by the former pupils of King Edward's School, Edgbaston, where 'local hero' Bill Oddie from Quinton in Birmingham was skipper of their 1st XV in something like 1967 before going up to Cambridge and becoming a star of 'Footlights', 'The Goodies' and all that followed as the UK's most famous 'Twitcher' on BBC TV's: 'Springwatch.'....etc.etc.

Ah...Wast Hills AKA 'The Wastland' (apologies to TS Eliot) as the wind whistled across the rolling plains of West Heath/Kings Norton, near to 'The Man in the Moon'! ? 

This put an early end to a promising student rugby career. 

As a rugby club Dixonians RFC celebrates its Centenary next year 1913-2013 on September 14th 2013 with a Grand Centenary Dinner at The Botanical Gardens in Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, just around the corner from The Vale at the University of Birmingham.

I would urge any former UoB students who played for Dixonians Rugby Football Club (www.ldrfc.com ) in the 1970's and 1980's (and even the 90's and the noughties) to contact me as Former Players' Secretary for Lordswood Dixonians Rugby Football Club for more information about attending the Dixonians Grand Centenary Dinner in September 2013 if you are interested? 

Dixonians RFC won the prestigious North Midlands Cup thrashing Droitwich 28-0 way back in 1988 at The Reddings, Moseley RFC's former home, now a Bryant's housing estate with Moseley now plying their trade in the 2nd tier of English Rugby at Billesley Common, where Moseley United used to play University XV's. 

Dix reached the dizzy heights of Level 4 in 1992, as high as we have ever reached in the 'pecking order'...... 

So you see University Rugby in Birmingham wasn't always booze-fuelled legalised mayhem......

Keith Bracey 
B.Com 1976-9 
Vice-Presidents and Former Players' Secretary 
Lordswood Dixonians RFC 
www.ldrfc.com 
Mobile: 07552 758 710 
Home : 0121 541 2154 
Email: keithbracey1@gmail.com

Historian's FC AKA 'The Vile's 'Guide to Supporting one of the Oldest Clubs in the Premier League.....

Fans of BCFC-Bluenoses and Small Heathen to boot please take note.....when I was a season tix holder at The Vile we beat you 5 1 at a canter....My sister Gill is a Small Heathen too and my little brother is a Baggy....Boing...! Boing...! My old man took me to Vile park when I was 4 in 1962 when he would buy me a bag of sweets from the corner shop near the ground in Trinity Road, give them to me and sit me on one of those red stanchions which kept the crowds at bay. 

My bum was so numb after watching the game in between his arms as he stood behind me protecting me as the crowd ebbed and flowed and moved and swayed back and forth depending on the action on the pitch. 

I remember watching the fatty goalie Colin Withers and Charlie Aitken as a young Scottish left-back (he holds the record for Villa apearances, something near 700 games from the early 60's to something like 1975. Mind you we were rubbish for most of that time, even losing to the Blues in the League Cup final 3-2 in 1963 (?) 

I am old enough to have attended a game at Villa Park in the 1966 World Cup...a nil all bore draw between West Germany and Argentina, with a player sent off from each side. 

I was only 8 and watched the game from a Birmingham City Police command post in the Holte End as I couldn't see a thing from so low down in the ground.... 

I was passed over the heads of the crowd to the arms of a waiting Bobby and had the best view from the Holte End any 8 year old could wish for.... 

My Dad Les Bracey was a genuine Astonian as was his Dad, my Grandad Wilfred Bracey, both born in Price Street in the Gun Quarter by the Bull's Head Pub. 

They all attended Summer Lane School at the top of the hill near to Constitution Hill. 

My Dad worked in the Gun Quarter for a Gunsmith, carrying rifles and shotguns to the Proof House nearby. 

The whole family supported The Villa, including my uncle Norman. 

My Dad played Football in Harborne for a club and Roy Ulyett, the Sports Argus cartoonist drew a cartoon of Les Bracey in the 1950's and dubbed him the 'Harborne Tarzan' due to an uncanny likeness to American swimmer and film star of the time Johnny Weismuller. the Olympic Freestyle Swimming Gold Medallist and Champion who played Tarzan in the Tarzan films of that era.....Happy memories of less complicated days......!!!! 

PS I would love to get hold of a copy of that Sports Argus cartoon of my Dad....are they online or is the Sports Argus from the 1950's online anywhere...say the Birmingham Mail and Sports Argus online archive.....? Any ideas anyone....?

Vanley Burke: By the Rivers of Birminam

Vanley Burke: By the Rivers of Birminam

Birmingham's Afro-Caribbean Community has added to the vibrancy and diversity of this melting pot of a city..from sport...to music...to the arts...to Civic and political life....Vanley Burke celebrates their contribution to the City of Birmingham with its many creeds, cuisines, colours and cultures.........